Year 8 Rugby – Match Report

Southam 10 Campion Northants 15

Charlie’s ‘Try’ factory not quiet enough

This was Southam’s first loss of the season, but ironically their best performance. Against an excellent, large and strong Northamptonshire side Southam picked up a gear and were more than a match for their opposition. After a worrying crash over try early by Campion, Southam got their game heads on. The forwards battled like warriors of old. I was delighted that discussions and work on securing the ball worked much better. Both teams in fact punished isolated runners with turn over ball; Southam in fact getting the upper hand. The first half saw a turn around with forwards securing great ruck ball and draw and give backs play from Phillips and Hill, who were outstanding, getting the ball out wide. Charlie Knight was not held in the tackle and continued to smash down the wing with pace to get the Try that was needed. A similar break in midfield saw another team try. The Southam ‘Wolf Pack’ definitely manning up to win ball. Charile crashed over in the corner one more time. A third try should have been scored late in the first half but a rare sloppy catch/pass from a lineout put pay to that 5 metres out.

The second half was tough. Wind, rain and the Campion man mountain captain came hammering at Southam’s door. The lads held out amazingly well under such pressure but you can’t tackle a big lad high. Keiran Caruana holding up a lad 3 times as big as him was something to behold!

Poor first time tackles resulted in two tries that should never have been. The cover was there but the tackling was not.Never -the-less an fantastic team performance with Charlie Knight getting man of the match.

Summary:

Much improved rucking and stealing of the ball combined with outstanding draw and give – I could not be more proud of your performance. Forwards huge improvements in set play. Thursday lunch training helped lineout runs.

Development:

First time shoulder tackles must be stepped up against top opposition. Learn to change game plan in rain – as we said pick and drive and the odd kick to clear lines needs to happen now and again. Are we the French in disguise? We do need to play to our strengths with a scintillating scary backs line – yes – but sometimes pragmatic Rugby needs to happen.